For many people, especially beginners or those who are time-challenged, scrapbooking can be overwhelming. There is a lot of pressure to make an album worthy of a spread in a magazine, to keep up with friends who can whip together a layout with one hand and make a beet salad with goat cheese and toasted walnuts with the other.

I'm not trying to discourage luscious layouts involving many hours and endless embellishments. I'm not trying to tell you that art journaling is too much trouble or too messy; on the contrary. I think that investing time and money in pursuit of a wonderful scrapbook or journal is a good idea.

But...sometimes it's important to do things in a different way. Here are a few ideas to help you hold onto your ideas and your memories when there is no time for more complicated projects:

INSTEAD of a journal, keep your sketches, notes and other memorabilia in an archival box. Decorate the box only if you want to.



I decorated a linen-covered Kolo brand box with rusty, crusty house numbers - a sophisticated look with zero effort. INSTEAD of piercing the lid of the box, the brads are purely decorative, the numbers held in place with low-tack double stick tape so I can change my mind at some point.

INSTEAD of keeping a big album, make a single 6 x 6 or 8 x 8 layout each month; frame the current month to hang on the wall. Remove from the frame and tuck the months into a folder as the year unfolds.

INSTEAD of facing a blank journal, add journaling, doodling or clippings to 3 x 5 cards and put them into a recipe file box. If you want, use dividers and organize the cards by date, by topic or category.

INSTEAD of an album, keep your memorabilia in an accordion folder.



I decorated an accordion folder from the office supply store with torn papers and a piece of elegant trim. I've used this folder since 2003. At first, it held tear sheets from magazines. Now it holds correspondence.

INSTEAD of an accordion folder, write the name of the month on the front of 12 envelopes and tuck things inside without thinking about what you'll do with the contents. If you want to remember the contents without dumping them onto a table, write on the front each time you tuck something inside.

INSTEAD of envelopes, books or boxes, wrap pretty paper around 12 matchboxes, one for each month (or 52, one per week) and write your thoughts on tiny pieces of paper. Keep the boxes inside a larger box or use them for a wall collage, making sure to arrange them so they can be opened and closed. Another option: INSTEAD of decorating each one, stack the matchboxes and glue them together like a chest of drawers (6 per stack works well).

INSTEAD of a diary, buy a perpetual calendar and INSTEAD of listing birthdays on the pre-printed lines, write random thoughts as the spirit moves you. Or glue things to the calendar and draw arrows to show which day the collage elements were added. If it becomes a daily habit, fine. If not, that's fine, too.

INSTEAD of larger journals or albums, make a mini book every month, every week, every day. (I once made a 2.5" book each day for 153 days, intending to keep going for a year, but stopping cold when it suddenly felt like work INSTEAD of fun.)

INSTEAD of any of these, designate a drawer and stuff things into it. Let anyone who finds it too messy or disorganized know that you're just doing what Woody Allen does! In the Martin Scorsese documentary, Allen shows the bedside drawer where he keeps with bits of paper filled with handwritten notes - a random array of thoughts and ideas. He "mines" the notes when he is ready to start a new movie or book.

You get the idea! Ask yourself the all-important question: What do I want to do INSTEAD of what I think I should do, INSTEAD of what I've been doing, INSTEAD of what others are doing?

TIP: Be sure to sign and date what you write, draw, or collect. If you later decide to create a book out of the bits and pieces, it will be easy to make it chronological.

To find the products mentioned in this article and shown in these layouts, check with your local scrapbook retailer. Browse our Premier Retail Stores for coupons to a store near you.